The present invention relates to computer display systems, and more particularly to a method for displaying on-screen windows used in graphic user interface computer systems.
Personal computer systems have been developed in a way to improve user convenience. One idea aimed at making the computer more accessible is the mouse. The mouse has attained fame as the pointing device, when it coupled with a graphical/menu-driven on-screen user interface. It allows a computer user to indicate what function he wants his computer to carry out by selecting from a list of commands presented as a menu. The user points at the menu selection by physically moving the pointing device, which causes a corresponding on-screen movement of the cursor. One or more buttons atop the device enables the user to indicate that he wants to select a menu item. The mouse is commonly connected with the computer through a serial port and it is called serial mouse. The whole process of moving the mouse and its on-screen representation is termed dragging the mouse.
Further, most operating systems adopting the graphic user interface (GUI) provides an on-screen window in which many of its elements appear graphically and many features are immediately available as on-screen choices through mouse operation. An application window may include a document window that is being the place where typing can be carried out. This windowing method is one of the most common features of today""s multitasking systems. Each task is given an area of the screen dedicated to its own operations and images. The windowing operations can be strictly software manipulations or the graphic chip may include special hardware provisions for streaming the control of the windows. In an earlier windowing system, software controls the display of each window. The layout of the screen is calculated, and the proper values for each pixel are plugged into the appropriate locations in the memory map. The image is generated by reading each memory location in sequence and using the information it contains to control the intensity of the electron beam in the display as it sweeps down the screen.
As apparent, these control buttons are designed to place generally on the right corner of each window, provided that the mouse is manipulated by the right hand. Thus, this window arrangement is essentially suitable for the right-hand mouse user. However, if the user came to use the mouse with the left hand, and the mouse setting has been made for the left hand, pointing the window buttons may be inconvenient since the mouse should be turned to the right. Also, moving the mouse toward the right causes encounter with main body of the computer, thereby blocking the movement of the mouse and leading to unsuccessful pointing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,152 for a Method and Apparatus For Tailoring Scroll Bar and Cursor Appearance to Pen User Hand Orientation to Needham discloses a pen based computer where a user enters the handedness of the user and the scroll bars are repositioned with respect to the display window to allow a user to more conveniently access the scroll functions. Thus, if the user is left handed, the user enters this information into the computer and the scroll bars will appear to the left of the display windows. If the user inputs that he is right handed, the computer places the scroll bars to the right of the display windows.
However, I have not seen an arrangement where the control buttons in addition to the scroll bars are repositioned based on the handedness of the user. These control buttons include iconize button, close button, and maximize button. What is needed is a computer that repositions both control buttons and scroll bars depending on the handedness of the user.
The present invention is intended to solve the aforementioned problems, and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method for displaying on-screen windows, which is convenient for a user to point the window control buttons by the left-hand mouse.
It is also an object to reposition the control buttons (iconize button, maximize button, and close button) based on the handedness of a user.
It is also an object to allow the user to enter the handedness of the user by using mouse buttons in order to reposition the control buttons and the scroll bars.
In accordance with the present invention, a method for displaying on-screen windows is provided, in which the method is carried out in a computer system using a mouse device, the method comprising the steps of determining whether the mouse button setting has been made for the right-hand operating mode or the left-hand operating mode; and creating a left-hand mode window in which control buttons thereof are placed generally at the left side of windows if the mouse button setting is for the left-hand mode.
The method further comprises the step of creating a window in which control buttons thereof are placed generally at the right side of the window, if the mouse button has set for the right-hand mode.